On the screen below the chart appeared a flashing message:
Marko placed a hand on Niko’s shoulder. “We’re cool. Stick to the plan. You’re just pulling off another con. Vyper told us to expect this. It’s normal.”
Another con. Niko shook his head. He grazed his finger on the stump where his pinky used to be “Russians don’t play games. They kill people. You don’t know what they’re like.”
“You’re in America now. We’ve covered our tracks. Remember, the Russians don’t know what we’re doing. The banks simply need approval because the number of money transfers exceeds the default limit. Vyper will redirect the call to us shortly.”
The phone rang. Niko answered in his native Russian tongue. “Allo?… One moment, I will transfer you.”
Marko waited ten seconds before picking up the phone. He spoke in an authoritative Russian voice. “Allo?… Da, this is Sergei Orlov… Da, I approve for Alexei Ivanovich Sokolov… password Indrik.” He hung up.
One minute passed, then another. Finally, the flashing message on the screen disappeared.
Niko looked at his console. “We’re good!” He let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Transfers are going through now.” He picked up where he left off, entering more wire transfers to move funds out of Cyprus.
It felt good stealing cash from this man. Marko had told him Vyper traced the Russian hackers and their money back to Alexei Sokolov, a Russian oligarch on the sanctions list. Apparently, the Russian believed he could swing the American election to favor politicians who would end the sanctions against him—perhaps even promote trade with his technology and weapons companies. In addition, Vyper discovered where Sokolov stashed his cash.
By 9:30, they had stolen over two billion dollars and deposited it into Marko’s temporary accounts. Niko had settled into a rhythm, preparing to enter each new piece of data as soon as the computer responded. Then he noticed the system at the was bank slowing down.
The warbling alert sounded once more. On the screen below the chart, a flashing message appeared:
DDoS! Someone was flooding the bank servers with hundreds of network messages—too many to handle. This was not a coincidence.
Marko spoke first. “They’re onto us. These attacks are the fastest way to stop our transfers. Move the funds out of the Cayman accounts NOW.”
The race was on. The banks would soon be forced to tell the Russians where their money went. They could also block all access.
Niko began at the top of the list of Cayman accounts—the ones where he deposited the stolen rubles. He transferred the entire balance into a backup account in the Bahamas. This wasn’t the time to worry about reporting limits. He and Joey continued to work their way down the list.
They had moved nearly the entire two billion dollars before Niko’s access was blocked. “I can’t get in.”
“I’m locked out, too,” said Joey.
Marko waved his hand. “Abandon the remaining money. We took enough. Start the laundry.”
Niko ran Vyper’s Kleener program which controlled a few hundred “bots”—robotic programs that rapidly moved funds through several accounts. They methodically transferred millions of rubles in small batches to hundreds of accounts in Panama. Once all the money was in Panama, the bots moved it through more banks in Eastern Europe.
Joey leaned back in his chair and watched the charts on the wall, tracking the laundering progress.
Niko couldn’t relax. “The Russians caught us in the act. Are you sure they can’t find us?”
A smile crossed Marko’s face. “Don’t worry. They can’t trace us through the dark net, and all the bank accounts were registered under fictitious names.” He turned his laptop toward Niko. “Help me out here. Your Russian is better than mine. Proofread this email. I’ll be sending it anonymously to our unlucky billionaire.”
Niko read it once, then again. Holy shit! He’s stirring up a hornet’s nest.
Spasíbo for your generous involuntary contribution. We have removed over 100 billion rubles from your banks in Cyprus and the Seychelles.
These are the funds you preferred to keep secret. We also know where you keep the rest of your cash. If you move it, we will find it. If you do not do as we demand, we will take all your money, your family’s money, and your friends’ money—every ruble.
We know what you are doing to the American election. You have 24 hours to stop. If we detect any interference after the deadline, we will destroy your comfortable life.
We will monitor the CONTRIBUTIONS post on the XIRO.COM website waiting for your reply.
Niko looked up. “The language is clear. So is the message.” He hoped this would stop the attacks. But he also worried the Russians might discover who took their money.
Marko sent the email.
Once the laundry operation was complete, Niko and Joey scrubbed all traces of their activity from the computers. Only the three of them—plus Vyper—would ever know who did this.
Before they left, Marko checked XIRO.COM, a website used for anonymous communication. “We received a message. Take a look.”
Four words appeared on the screen:
Joey stood and grabbed his coat. “Well, I’m amused. Let’s go get a beer.”
“A beer sounds good,” said Niko. “But I’m pretty sure Sokolov just threatened to hunt us down and make us pay. I’ll need at least two beers.”
Chapter 2
Go Deep
Kozel Action Center: Eight months later
Niko looked up from the console and raised his voice so everyone in the room could hear. “It’s Sokolov again—this time in Virginia. He’s probing Fairfax County servers, doing port scans, looking for a way in.”
Russian meddling in the election had stopped after Marko stole their money. Now that the election was over, Sokolov must have directed his hackers to a different target.
Niko shook his head. “I don’t get it. Why is he going after local government servers? It won’t get his sanctions removed, and it doesn’t bring him new business.”
Marko looked at Niko’s console. “A lot of government experts are wondering the same thing. We believe the Russian intelligence agencies may have subcontracted this work to Sokolov.” He pointed to the front of the room. “Display the Fairfax data on the big screen. Which servers are they targeting?”
Niko tapped a few keys. A network diagram appeared, large enough for everyone to see. In the center, the images of three computers were highlighted in red. “Looks like the public safety servers—9-1-1 dispatch, police, and fire.”
Every seat was full today, all eyes fixed on the screen. Next month there would be even more people—once they relocated operations into a larger building with tighter security. Marko needed the new center to support Kozel Group’s newest contract, protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure.
Across the room, another operator announced, “Same thing’s going on in DC. Definitely Sokolov.”
This is what Niko hoped for. The team had monitored these hackers for months while they probed local government systems in other cities. Vyper always made sure they couldn’t break in. But today, Sokolov’s folks targeted DC and several nearby counties, including locations where Vyper’s traps were deployed.